The mobile unit industry facilitates the broadcasting needs of all network and cable companies across the US. Currently, approximately 20 US-based mobile unit production companies with their own television trucks cover all of these needs.
NEP Broadcasting, having been in business for 30 years, has found a way to differentiate itself in an already tight market by focusing on the high-end business of sporting and entertainment events. Deborah Honkus, CEO, said although some of the other production companies in her industry custom-build their trucks to facilitate local markets, NEP covers only the big events that go across the country.
“We’re focused on the high-end business of the large A NFL games, golf events, and NBA games,” Honkus said. “On an NFL weekend, each network has an A game, B games, and C games; our niche is to cover only the high-end games.”
 Extensive diversification
The sports world isn’t the only place NEP is focused, however. In the 30 years since it was founded, the company has diversified extensively.
Under the NEP umbrella, there are seven divisions that cover the US and UK markets of sports and entertainment. In the late 1970s, NEP acquired Supershooters, which had one mobile broadcasting truck. Similar to how NEP continues to function, the Supershooters division (which, like all NEP divisions, has its own president) designs, builds, and maintains its own facilities, creating customized mobile production units that match the specific needs of each client.
NEP continued diversifying rather than digging deeper into its current markets. “We looked at what else we could do onsite that ties into the same industries we already covered,” said Honkus. “We acquired Screenworks, which provides screens for concerts and stadiums, and tied them into our mix.”
NEP’s executive team realized the screens were a major part of entertainment shows and saw an organic avenue of potential growth. The company then bought an operation called Denali from a competitor that was closing. Denali is focused exclusively on entertainment events and programming. But with the purchase of Denali and its trucks came a need to edit the footage, so NEP acquired Studios, which has full video, audio, and graphics capabilities spread across nine studio facilities.
“Our entertainment clients do more shows in London than anywhere else, so we acquired Visions to meet the need in our overseas market,” said Honkus. Because Visions had high-end trucks and engineers similar to NEP’s set up, and due to the relationship the companies had developed in the past, it was a natural fit.
“Visions had a small division working with Roll to Record, which was similar to Studios, so we bought that business to tie into Visions,” Honkus continued. “We downsized the equipment and gave the leftovers to RTR, which upgraded its capabilities.”
As NEP’s popularity grew, it began running out of mobile units, which made its growing customer base unhappy. NEP acquired competitor New Century Productions, which had strengths in one- and two-day shoots that complemented NEP’s strength in working on week-long shows. By bringing NCP into the mix, NEP became more versatile and more available to a wider customer base.
“We have more depth in engineering, we have more equipment, and we have sophisticated planning departments,” said Honkus. “We’re prepared on all fronts.”
Making it work
Customer service has always been the number one priority at NEP, followed closely by taking care of its employees. As a result, the company has an extensive inhouse training regimen and a specific customer-centered business platform.
Unlike other mobile unit companies, NEP assigns a designated team to cover every account. For example, one team is designated to work specifically with ESPN (NEP’s longest standing customer), while another will be assigned to work with NBC. “We plan almost a year in advance for these events,” said Honkus.
“Every customer has an engineering, operations, and sales person,” she continued. “We have more equipment, which means you need a team.”
A couple of years ago, NEP ramped up its inhouse education and developed its apprenticeship program, a three-step process for those interested in learning the engineering aspects of the mobile unit business. New hires start with orientation and are then sent to integration where they learn how to build trucks.
“They custom design and build wires, labels, monitors, and racks,” said Honkus. “They learn from the bottom up what it takes to build a truck and how all the equipment works.”
Trainees often work in integration for six to 12 months. At the end of that period, management assesses (based on observations and testing) whether the trainee is ready to go to the next step of the program: working in engineering maintenance to understand the troubleshooting and repair of equipment.
Once they have mastered this segment, the third phase of the program is to go out in a truck as a mobile unit apprentice. “We start sending them out as a third engineer on a truck when appropriate,” she said. “The rest of their time is spent in our internal engineering group and field shop fixing equipment.”
By watching each apprentice carefully, NEP assesses whether the person would be a better fit for a NASCAR event, for example, or a golf tournament. It also makes NEP an attractive employer to potential engineers who are excited to enter into this line of work. “People who are excited and want to learn are like sponges,” said Honkus. “They absorb this knowledge, go out, and make it work.”
Keeping it going
In 2008, the team at NEP realized its end-of-the-year meetings with clients would be focused on one thing: cutting costs. Rather than waiting to see what they would ask for, NEP took a proactive approach and tightened up its
operations, starting with travel days.
Rather than sending an entire team on an overnight mission, complete with hotel stays and per-diem expenses, the company would send two ahead of time and three on the day of the event. By cutting travel, hotel, and per-diem expenses, the company cut approximately $200,000 out of one of its customer’s budgets.
“When we realized what was possible, we went to other customers and did the same thing,” said Honkus. “We also controlled our expenses across the board, put the hammer down, and said no unnecessary expenses, which in the past caused additional charges.”
NEP made its shipping processes more efficient, used fewer freelancers, and asked its staff to step it up to make up the difference. Of the almost 500 employees working with NEP, all of them agreed to the changes. “They were seeing so many people losing their jobs; they were more than willing to put in extra work to make our company more efficient in a changing environment,” said Honkus.
This year, the biggest challenge on Honkus’ plate is keeping the streamlined momentum going as the economy starts to improve. To do so, the executive team holds monthly town hall meetings with engineers, monthly meetings with drivers, and monthly meetings with other staff to keep everyone in the know. NEP also has a three-page weekly newsletter that it sends out reminding staff of ways to keep the company’s costs down.
“We take care of our employees, and in return we ask they take care of us,” said Honkus. “We try to keep our people challenged so they don’t ever dread going to work.” |
